Preacher & MacCallister Bundle by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2022-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

Chester Merrick had been driving the surveyors’ wagon all day while Noah Stuart sat beside him with a large pad of paper on his lap and made sketch after sketch of the landscape, marking every landmark for when it came time to create an actual map of the isolated territory.

They came to a drop-off formed by a low, rugged escarpment that appeared to run for several miles in both directions. Preacher and Jamie, riding ahead, reached it first and reined in.

“This looks like the Cap Rock over in Texas,” Jamie said. “Just not as high and rough.”

“Don’t reckon the wagons’ll have any trouble handlin’ it,” Preacher commented as he leaned forward in his saddle. “I see several places where the slope’s gentle enough for them to get down there.”

“And maybe a spring or something over that way,” Jamie said, pointing to the west. “I see a little bit of green, so there has to be some water.”

“Dog and me’ll check it out,” the mountain man offered. He rode down the slope with the big cur trotting alongside him while Jamie turned his horse and waved an arm for the others to stop.

“What is it?” Fletch asked as Jamie rode up to the lead wagon. “Another canyon?”

“No, just a place where the ground drops off some,” Jamie explained. “It shouldn’t give us any trouble. Might be a good campsite down there. Preacher’s gone to have a look.”

Noah Stuart jumped down from the wagon seat and walked ahead to the other wagon. He asked Jamie, “Are we stopping for the day?”

“Maybe longer than that. We’re far enough south now that if this turns out to be a good location, we might go ahead and establish our main camp for a while.”

Some of the men on horseback had moved in close enough to hear Jamie’s comments. Dog Brother grunted and said, “Good. It is time to kill Apaches.”

“For once, the filthy savage and I agree,” Ramirez said with a cocky grin.

Tennysee nodded. “It’s time we had us some good fightin’, all right, and that ain’t no joke.”

“Wait here,” Jamie told him, then turned his horse back to the rimrock. As he peered down the slope, he spotted Preacher. The mountain man was already returning.

“It’s a good spot, all right,” Preacher reported as he and Dog reached the top of the ridge. “A little waterhole with some grass around it for the mules and horses, even a few cottonwood trees. It’s between a couple of places where the ridge sticks out, but the rocks ain’t close enough on either side to hem in the camp. And the slope at the back ain’t so steep that the horses couldn’t climb it, although I don’t reckon it’d be easy to get the wagons up. Couldn’t move the wagons fast, anyway. But the upshot of it is, I don’t believe we’d be likely to get boxed in there, and I’m thinkin’ the water comes from underground somewhere, so it shouldn’t run dry.”

“Sounds like we won’t find a better place,” Jamie said.

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